Thank you for rehearsing and designing and producing theatre I didn't see this year.

Thank you for painting and sculpting and welding and editing for all those gallery openings I didn't make it to.

Thank you for the gigs you played and the songs you sang.

Thank you for the movement you choreographed.

The words you wrote.

The business you started.

The ideas you hatched, and the ideas that are still percolating in you right now.

Maybe these things took you longer than they used to before you had children. Maybe you only got through them by the skin of your teeth. Maybe you fell flat on your face, threw a tantrum, didn't do half of what you'd planned.

I'm still impressed. And grateful.

Because even though right now in my life, I'm not sitting in the audience or making it out to the bar where you're playing or showing up at your grand opening so very often, I still benefit from living in a world where creative-leader-mamas are making new things.

When you're memorizing lines while you wait in the school's carpool pick-up lane, or being a logistical superhero just to go on the shortest tour of your life, or managing to get everyone's teeth brushed before rushing out the door to meet a potential investor...

Know that I am wowed by you.

Know that I'm over here creating right along with you, between bedtimes and playtimes.

And know that, until the time comes when I'm at your opening again, I am cheering you on as I nurse an amazing small person to sleep.